Kingston Academy
by RedemptionCity
Summary: When Nikki's best friend Mel goes missing after enrolling into a prestigious academy for "gifted" students, Nikki tries to find out why, but it won't be easy. She'll have to encounter multiple villains, deal with her own mysterious past, and try to figure out who she can and can't trust. My 1st story and a remake of the original GA. Romance is slow to build, but realistic. Review!
1. Chapter 1

_"_ _We are bringing you the latest news in the War on Terror in the Middle East. The President is said to give an address to the nation later today about the action hat the U.S. is going to take after the recent bomb threats against the country._ _Some are wondering if the President will finally_ _be_ _declar_ _ing_ _war."_ the news played on the television, spouting out the same information it spouted day and day again.. Wars, bomb threats, terrorists... It never changed. And yet, we all still listen to it; just waiting for the time when the "ground breaking news" is actually ground breaking.

"Why don't you turn that thing off?" my mother spoke as she walked into the kitchen and straight to the coffee pot, "It's depressing. You'll just drive yourself crazy." as she poured herself a fresh cup into the mug I painted her when I was seven years old.

"I'm looking for news about Uncle Tom. You know it's been awhile since we've heard from him. And he went on that secret mission.. What if something happened to him?" I protested as I sat at the kitchen table eating my bowl of cereal.

Uncle Tom was a top agent in the secret forces over seas. He was considered a hero for all of his accomplishments among his coworkers—at least that's what he told me. According to him, he's found out and captured more terrorists than any other single person. He was a living legend. But.. lately, there hasn't been any word from him. There's no news of him being captured or killed. Not that I'm sure it would with him being in the secret ops and whatnot, but I was still beginning to worry.

Uncle Tom was like a father to me. My real dad left when I was a kid. I hardly remember anything about him. I guess it must have been really hard on mom because she never talks about him—even when I ask. And there are no pictures of him in the house. He must have been a jerk. But my mom and I do okay on our own—better when Uncle Tom's around.

 _"_ _In other news, a student from Kingston Academy has gone missing this past week.."_

I froze and looked up from my bowl of cereal.

"Sixteen _year old Mallory Stevenson has been missing since earlier this week."_ the news anchor read from her papers.

"Mom!" my spoon of milk and cheerios fell into my bowl making a small splash. My mom and I stared intently at the TV.

 _"_ _It is rumored that t_ _he young student to the elite academy_ _has not been seen since_ _last_ _Sunday afternoon_ _before she was set to give a presentation to local science professors on a possible scientific discovery._ _School officials have refused to release a statement and have refused to immediately answer any calls in relation to the matter."_

I dropped my spoon filled with cereal into my bowl of milk and sat frozen in my seat. 'Mel.. missing?' Mel was my best friend throughout middle school. She was one of my only friends. I don't know why though. She was so smart in comparison to me. Smarter than anyone at that school or that I've ever known—teachers included. She won every science fair even as a child with the most unique inventions. Some of those inventions were sold to top scientists in their field.

I don't know why she chose to be friends with me, but I remember when it happened like it was yesterday. I moved to this town when I was in the in the fifth grade. My mom never had a lot of money leading up to that point. She switched jobs all the time and so we moved around all the time. I didn't have the fancy clothes that other kids had and I never had the latest technology, but it never really bothered me. Well, I came into school and I was literally the _poor_ new kid that was socially awkward and had never been invited to a slumber party. I was bullied. Kids made fun of my dull brown hair, tripped me when I was walking down the aisle way in class, and took food off of my lunch tray without asking. Sometimes they would take a bite of the food and then put it back on my tray in another section of my food. The teachers never did anything about it and I never told my mom. I didn't want her to worry.

Mel wasn't like the other kids though. One day she saw me while I was being cornered by some particularly nasty girls outside the gym. And Mel... Well she just stomped right up to them and with a cold voice and an icy stare and she just told the girls what lowlife idiots they were and how they were a waste of space with nothing to offer to society. And oh man, those girls just stopped in their tracks absolutely dumbfounded. They scoffed at her then walked off murmuring curse words under their breaths. Then Mel turned to me and held out a hand with a sincere smile and she said to my blubbering face, "You're much prettier when you smile." and that was it. From that day on, we did everything together. All the way through middle school we were best friends.

My mom moved closer to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "Oh sweetie.. I'm so sorry."

I sprung up from my chair and ran upstairs to my room. I heard the chair fall to the ground, but I didn't look back. I went to my end-table by my bed where my phone sat. Grabbing it, I immediately hit the speed dial for Mel's phone.. " _I'm sorry, the number you are trying to reach has been discon..."_ and I hung up. I don't know what I was hoping for.. I haven't been able to talk to Mel since she left for the Academy a year ago. Students there aren't allowed to have cell phones. Very little contact is allowed in or out of the school because of how prestigious it is.

I let my phone drop to the floor and flopped down on my bed, frustrated. My arms laid across my forehead. I was silent, but tears streamed down my cheeks. What do I do? How can I help her? I didn't understand it.. Why did she have to move so far away just to go to this stuck up school that let her just disappear? They're supposed to have top notch security! They're supposed to protect their students! There was something wrong here. They had to be hiding something. I wonder just what secrets they're trying to keep from getting out..

….. ….. ….. A few days later …. …. ….

A few days had passed since I had heard anything about Mel. Actually, other than that one broadcast, there weren't any updates at all. I called the new station and they acted like they had no idea what I was talking about and then told me I should stop prank calling them or they would call the police.

"Well maybe you could try calling the school directly." my mom suggested as she stood over the stove making dinner, "It's such an elite school, they're probably trying to keep the news from spreading and giving them a bad rep."

"Yeah, maybe" I replied, "I doubt they'll tell me anything." I sat at the counter messing with my phone.

"Good luck." she smiled softly at me, "dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes."

I gave my mom a quick hug, "Thanks, mom." I turned around and walked out of the kitchen and up to my room where my laptop sat on my bed.

I opened it up and searched for the school's number. It was a miracle I found it the way that the site was set up. I had to look up the number from the recruiting section where it read, ' _Have a talent? Let us know at.. 8_ _.'_

I dialed the number and on the other end a female voice answered. My heart was racing a little, "Kingston Academy, may I help you?"

"Um, hi." I said, "I'm actually looking for a student under the name Mallory Stevenson. She was said to have gone missing earlier this week. I was wondering if you had any information on her?"

"I'm sorry, there are no students here under that name." the voice replied.

"That can't be, she definitely goes to this school. She was paid a ton of money to go there."

"If you have a talent and would like to apply for school here then I can help you, but there is no student by that name here. Have a good night." and then she hung up.

My heart sank. What the heck? How could there be no record of Mel? Did they even check? How could she know for sure so quickly? I threw my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes in frustration.

And then my world shattered around me..


	2. Chapter 2

_**Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!**_

My eyes flashed open. The room was dark with a haze moving along my ceiling.

'The fire alarm?' I thought... 'Mom!?' I ran out from my room and down the stairs. An orange flickering glow clashed against the dark living room walls from the kitchen and black smoke coated the ceiling.

I grabbed a pillow off of the couch and pushed it against my face and ran to the kitchen. I last saw mom standing at the stove... But now in the space where she stood before was a roaring fire. My eyes darted around the room, tearing up from the smoke. Everything was ablaze; the cabinets, the curtains, the walls... And then on the floor was my mother.

I dove down onto my knees. Hovering over her body, grasping her shoulders, "Mom!" I screamed, "Mom!" I gagged on the smoke that penetrated my lungs and coughed as I cried over her body, "You have to get up!" but she laid there motionless. And then I noticed that along her torso were several stab wounds oozing blood. I looked back at her face. Her eyes were glazed over.

Sirens came from the distance. Slowly getting louder as they approached our home. _**zzzt zzzt.**_ My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. A text from Mel?

" _Run."_

Just then the heat from the fire pushed the out the windows and glass crashed to the floor. I swallowed hard. I forced myself to get up on my feet and run out of the kitchen. I snatched my purse off of the staircase along with a pair of tennis shoes and then ran out the front door of the house. Sirens from what I would assume were police and fire trucks bounced off the houses along the streets as the vehicle drew closer. A few of our neighbors were beginning to come out of their homes to see what was happening. I didn't like the idea of being questioned about what happened. In part because I had no idea what did just happen. So I dove into the bushes at the side of the yard connecting our yard to our neighbor's; then ran around the back of their home and into the woods behind. If I was lucky, no one saw me.

I ran for a good five minutes straight through the woods before I stopped to catch my breath. My mind was racing as well as my heart. 'What just happened?' I thought to myself. I couldn't make sense of any of it. How could such a thing happen? My mother, dead?! Murdered? And Mel?! Was she alive? How did she text me? Was it really her? I thought she couldn't use her phone, I thought the number was disconnected.

I pulled out my phone, " _Where are you?"_ I typed out and hit send. **message send failure. '** What?'. I hit send again. It wouldn't go through. "Dammit!" I chucked my phone down into the leaves on the ground and began to sob.

Now what? What do I do from here? My mom is dead, I don't know what's going on with Mel, I don't understand anything that's going on! I sat down on a fallen tree log and buried my face into my hands. I sat there for awhile. I couldn't tell you how long exactly.. just, awhile.

I needed a plan. I needed to know why my mom was killed and by who. Why Mel was missing. Why I was told to run. Who told me to run. Mel? Maybe she was okay. Maybe she knows what's going on.. Maybe she'll know something about my mom... Tears began to stream down my cheeks and stared blankly into the dead space of the trees.

'That's it.' I thought. I began to work through everything that had happened. I needed answers.. I needed to find Mel. But where would I begin to look? I couldn't contact her through her phone and the school denied that she had ever even attended there.. But if I could get in.. If I could be a student at that school.. maybe I could find someone who knew her and maybe they would know something.. Maybe someone not on staff there would be willing to talk and tell me what's going on.

So that was it. I was going to go undercover into that school. I didn't want stay here anyways.. All of the sudden it just didn't feel safe. And there wasn't anything for me to stay for. My entire life as I knew it had just ended. I felt cold. Not just from the chilly fall air, but from the series of events that just happened. I was numb. Nothing could have prepared me for this.

I picked my phone up off the ground. It was three in the morning. I stood up and began to walk back towards my house. At the treeline of my backyard I could just barely make out a still smoking dark pile of rubble illuminated by just a street light. The structure of the house was gone. A single police car was left in the street. At daylight they would probably be looking for any sign our dead bodies.

'I shouldn't stick around long' I thought. If they see me, they'll want to question me, ask me what I know, make me relive the whole ordeal, ask me who would have done this, if not me? They'll blame me and then make me out to be the victim. They'll make me spend hours sitting in a tiny room asking me a bunch of questions that I really don't have the answers to. But maybe I will. Maybe I can get them.

So I gave up the idea of possibly looking for salvageable items or cash. There was little hope there anyways. I walked back into the woods and walked along the back of my neighbor's houses until I reached the road. There was a bus-stop to the right outside of the neighborhood about a mile down. I kept returning my gaze to my phone as I walked down the street. Several times I went into my messages hoping that something had been sent to me without realizing it. But no messages came. No new information presented itself to me.

I stood alone at the bus stop. I looked down at my phone.. 4:30. There was almost no traffic along the roads and I knew the bus would take awhile before making its route to this spot. It was damp and eerie waiting for the bus to arrive. I didn't feel safe standing there alone. When the bus did come and roll to a stop, I stepped on—avoiding eye contact with the driver as I removed some change from my purse and pushed it into the little collection box.

The bus had only a few riders... An older woman up front who kept to herself, a man in the back that looked straight forward like a statue, and a young couple with a small child—a girl—sitting in their lap at about the middle of the bus. I sat a row behind and on the opposite side of the couple and their child. I leaned my head against the window as the bus slowly pulled away from the curb. It would be a bit before we got to the train station and I was—understandably—very tired.

The bus drove a while without stopping. Every now and then I opened my eyes and looked for changes in the setting, but quickly drifted off each time. The last time I woke up, we were about a mile away from the train station. I pressed my forehead to the glass window and looked at the street lamps pass by. Moments later I felt a vibration in my hand. Startled, I looked down at my phone. A text.

My heart skipped and I opened the text, **"** _ **Get off the bus!"**_

Without a second thought I pulled the cord that dangled by my head and used it at the same time as leverage to spring up from my seat and bolt to the door at the front of the bus.

"Hey!" the bus driver snapped, "Stay seated until the bus comes to a complete stop!"

I ignored her as I moved forward. The elderly woman screamed just a second after I ran past her. For just a moment I turned and looked at her. My eyes widened as I saw the man who was sitting in the back was now running after me. The elderly woman leaped up from her seat and ran towards the man waling her purse at him. She was quick and got a couple hits in; giving me just enough time to jump from the bus.

I said a silent thank you as the bus stopped completely and hurled myself out the door. I was just one block away from the train station. I just needed to run. If I ran fast enough, hard enough.. I could make it to the station. It would be more difficult for him to get a hold of me in a public building. Who was this man? Did he have some sort of connection to my mom or Mel? It all had to be connected, right? My mom, the fire, the text messages, this man?

"Stop!" the man screamed. I glanced back to see the man gaining speed on me. He was tall, black hair pulled straight back in a short pony tail, an olive green trench coat. I ran faster. I could see puffs of air pushing out of my mouth which breath.

I was almost there, but I was getting tired. The station was so close though. I dug through my purse.. almost tripping in doing so, but well worth it. I whipped out a small canister and spun in a circle aiming right at my pursuer's face. I held the button down with an iron grip and a stream flew out of it. Wasp spray. More potent and more painful than pepper spray. It also shoots farther. I couldn't help but grin a little while the man began a worthless attempt to rub the spray from his eyes. He began to scream and curse at me. That was my to reach the station. I ran up the walk and inside the building. A sign hanging from the ceiling pointed me right to the ticket desk.

Behind the desk was a younger girl with thick black curls. "I need to buy a ticket to Dallas, Texas for the next possible train." I said out of breath.

"Certainly" she said as her fingers slowly pecked at the different keys of her computer. I impatiently looked over my shoulder every few seconds, worried that the man chasing me would recover and catch up to me. "Okay." she finally finished pulling up the page. "We have one train leaving in about a half hour."

"How much?" I asked.

"The cheapest rate is $125.00, plus tax." the woman said.

I took a deep breath, "Okay... give me just a minute." I rummaged through my purse and pulled out my wallet. I opened it up... I only had $60.. But I had my credit card for emergencies with a $300 credit. I held it out to the woman, "Do you accept these?"

"We do." she smiled and took the card from me and slid it across the register. She pulled a piece of paper off the machine and handed it to me with a pen, "Please sign here to verify the purchase."

I did so and she took the paper back then directed me to the boarding area. I thanked her and walked briskly towards my destination. But right before reaching the boarding area, I put a death grip on an employee's arm and I cried out, "Please, help me! There's a man in a trench coat, right outside the station! He has a gun! You have to get the police!" I sounded desperate. Not that I wasn't, really.

The employee ran off to alarm the police; probably expecting me to follow behind him. But I stayed back and moved toward the scanners before the boarding platform. Moments later you could hear the commotion outside. 'Good. That should keep him detained long enough for me to get on the train with ease.' I thought. And it did.

The train ride was long, but I was thankful for the break from running. I was able to eat some food on the ride, went to the bathroom a dozen times and dozed off handful times. I looked at my phone here and there looking for any updates, hoping to make contact with Mel. But nothing came. In a way though, it was comforting because so far every message I got seemed to be a warning about that guy that was chasing after me. I wonder how she knew, or whoever had her phone knew..

When I finally reached Dallas it was late. There's no way I was going to be able to find the school tonight. Thankfully there was a fairly cheap motel next to the station. I checked in and went to my room, making sure my door was double locked. I was sure that man wasn't going to stop chasing me just because I escaped him back in Ohio.. but it would at least take him time to catch up. Hopefully by the time he did, I would be enrolled at that school.

The room was small, definitely cheap and definitely used. I kicked off my shoes and laid down on the bed. I walked through everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours and everything that would come tomorrow. I brought my knees to my chest and my pillow to my face and I sobbed. Right now. Get it all out now. Mourn. Cry. Bawl your eyes out. And then think about what you need to do next.

When the tears stopped, I moved over to the old dusty computer in the room and I printed out directions to Kingston Academy and researched the school's website. There wasn't much information. There were some forums with rumors about the school. Apparently the enrollment procedures were tough. From what I could find, you couldn't just be smart to enroll at the school, but you also had to prove that you had some form of talent. No contact was allowed inside or outside the school. Uniforms are to be worn at all times that classes are in session. Students must report to all classes on time, no excuses. No fighting of any kind allowed. … It seemed strict..

The only other rumors I could find about the school was that the campus is huge, but away from town. It has its own currency. All the teachers were previous students of the school. Enrollment throughout the year is possible, but rare. Exceptions are made for exemplary students. The school is protected by its own secret service..

I never knew that the school Mel went to was so important. I didn't know that such a school even existed. To be honest I'm surprised that it had a website open to the public eye.. 'So I doubt that I'll be able to just walk in and ask for a tour.. But getting in as a student seems impossible.' I thought to myself as I bit at my finger nails.

"Ugh." I sighed in frustration and pushed my hair back from my face, "How did I think I could pull this off? I don't know anything." I let my head rest on my arms on the desk

So first I would try to get in as a student at the school. At some point I'll try to sneak away from the school officials and get some information from a student or something. And if everything goes well, I won't be thrown into jail for trespassing and I'll at least find something out about Mel.

With that being done, I planned out my route to get to the school and then went to bed.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning I woke up and got ready for the most daring thing I had ever done in my life. I took a shower and dried my hair putting it in a braid that hung over my shoulder. I ironed my clothes in hope that they didn't stink and still looked okay. But really, they're just a pair of blue jeans and an average blouse. I put on some mascara and eyeliner that I had in my purse and I brushed my teeth with the toothpaste and brush that I got from the gas station next door. By logging on to my email I was able to print off my other college applications, work resume, and references in an attempt to look like this wasn't planned in one night—even though it probably still looked like I did.

I gathered all of my things back into my purse, grabbed my papers and went down stairs and ate breakfast in the lobby. Then I was on my way.

Kingston Academy was about twenty miles away from the hotel. I had called a taxi and was on my way to the school at nine. I asked to be dropped off about a block away from the Academy and got out of the cab there; I needed a little time to prepare myself before standing in front of those gates and to get a good look at the academy and how it was set up from the outside.

Except, there wasn't much to look at. Walking up to the academy was a solid forest of trees. Once you actually got to where the academy started, it was just a brick wall. A very very.. very tall brick wall. I scanned the wall as I walked by it looking for any openings or ways in or out of the academy, but found none. At least not until I cam up to what must have been the main gate, which—like the wall—was huge.

I approached the gate timidly. There was no intercom, no doorbell. Just a very big and locked iron-rod gate. I guess the even staff must not go in or out frequently...

"Excuse me" A voice called from behind me.

I spun around to see a middle-aged man in a pristine suite looking at me. He was of average height, average weight, and had average gray hair for his age that was slightly spiked up with gel. The suit was gray with a maroon vest and tie underneath the jacket.

"Yes?" I stammered slightly.

"What are you doing here?" he inquired.

I struggled to find the right words to say. If he worked here, maybe he would be my way in.. "I'm looking to go to school here."

The man raised his eyebrows, "Oh?" he smiled slightly, "And why is that?"

I couldn't exactly say that I was looking for Mel..

After a pause the man asked, "Do you have a.. talent?"

 _Well that was to the point,_ "Yes. I do." I stated as convincingly as I could.

"And what is that?" he asked leaning slightly in with a raised eyebrow.

I let out a lingering, "uhh" before our conversation was interrupted by a familiar man. The guy that had been chasing me before was standing just feet away. I unintentionally moved myself so that the two men were facing each other, rather than me being in between them.

"Jasper.." the gray haired man murmured, then turned to me, "Is this man chasing you?"

I nodded yes.

"I see.. then I know all I need to know." he replied to my nod.

"Leave the girl with me, Hafeman. I found her first." Jasper called out to the suited man named 'Hafeman' and then jumped into the air.

"Get back!" Hafeman yelled out to me and shoved me against the wall before jumping back twenty feet himself. Jasper had come down from the air with some sort of energy sword that cracked the pavement where Hafeman was standing not even a moment before. _Where did that sword come from?!_

Hafeman retaliated with a whip that looked as though it was a vine that grew out of a seed in his hand. Hafeman ran towards Jasper with a loud grunt and the vine whip almost moved on its own as it slashed across Jasper's chest. He screamed and barrel rolled down the walk. _Where did that whip come from?!_

Hafeman put a finger to his ear and spoke, "Breach at the front gate, code two."

Moments later a black van pulled up to the sidewalk where Jasper fell. Several men jumped out of the van just as Jasper began to sit up and handcuffed him. As the men pulled Jasper off of the ground, you could see a line of blood forming across his chest where he was struck. He was quickly pulled into the van and it drove off without any delay.

My back stayed glued against the brick wall the entire time, my chest heaving as I took the entire spectacle in with wide eyes. Several small craters were now present in the sidewalk, the dust still settling.

Hafeman turned and walked over to me and gently smiled with an outstretched hand, "Now, then.. You can call me Mr. Hafeman. And your name was?"

My eyes had to of been like that of a crazed cat's. I met Mr. Hafeman's hand uneasily. This man must be crazy. No. He _is_ crazy. How do get into such a dramatic fight one moment and then act as though it never happened the next?

"Nichole. My name is Nichole.. My, my friends call me Nikki, sometimes."

"Well then," he smiled again, "it is very nice to meet you Nichole." Mr. Hafeman leaned in slightly closer and a bit quieter he asked, "And what is your _talent_?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Um, actually I'm not really all that talented.." I admitted—not too sure that I really wanted to be a part of this school after all.

"Really? Because that man certainly felt otherwise." he replied cautiously, trying to read me.

I took a deep breath. Clearly whatever _talent_ he's talking about, I don't think he means playing the cello.. Maybe if I told him why I was here, I could play into this and still have a chance to get inside the school.. "Okay.. I knew a student that went to this school.. She disappeared.." Mr. Hafeman's eyebrows raised—obviously not the answer he was expecting, "The night before last, my mother was murdered and our house was set on fire. I ran away from the house and that man began to chase me." I pointed my hand the direction that the van had driven off in, "I thought maybe if I came here I could find some answers or.. at least some protection." my eyes pleaded with his. _Please believe me. Please help me._

A moment passed and then, "Well you made it to the right place." Mr. Hafeman looked sorry for me, "I'm so sorry that you were brought here on such sad circumstances, but I assure you that you made the right decision to come here." he gestured for me to walk with him and we moved towards the iron gate, "While at the moment it may seem unclear, I am certain that you do indeed have a very special talent..." In front of the gate, Mr. Hafeman spoke something into his ear piece and the gate began to slowly open, "That man would not have been chasing after you otherwise."

When the gate had opened a considerable amount he began walking into the school and I followed him in. The first thing you saw when you entered the school grounds was just a very long grey brick drive with a forest of trees on either side. I didn't see any other people. On the way up the path Mr. Hafeman began to talk about the school.

"There are a lot of different people here. Most of them are very nice, some of them can be a little troublesome, much like any other school. Most of the students here have been here a very long time—some since they were in elementary school. But there are occasions where someone's talent either doesn't appear until they reach maturity or sometimes they have been there all along, but the talent just isn't as noticeable as others and they go by undetected. I suspect that one of these cases apply to you."

I interrupted him, "Exactly what talents are you talking about, Mr. Hafeman?"

"You will see very soon, Nichole." he went on, "The goal of Kingston Academy is to grow and nurture one's talents in a safe environment. With that being said there are some very strict rules. Every student is issued a uniform that they must wear basically at all times so we can easily identify the students. There is zero tolerance fighting. We believe in valuing your skills and talents and therefore have put in place an allowance system based on such attributes and hard work. Money earned here can only be spent here. Students are not allowed outside of school grounds and they are not to speak to strangers or people from the outside."

That made me think of how Mel couldn't talk to me after she began attending school here, "What about talking to our friends and family or going home to visit them?"

He glanced at me briefly and then looked straight ahead with an expression I couldn't make out, "We do our best to keep our students connected with their families, but strictly by written letters only. We have a duty to protect our students. Whenever we allow the students leave or come in contact with people from the outside, we risk events like what happened today with you and that hunter."

A large building was coming into view ahead of us. It wasn't just large, it was grand. The building was made with this gray brick—much like the drive we were walking on—that almost sparkled in the sunlight. And deep purple tapestries lined with silver hung down the walls of the building near the main doors; which were made with a dark wood.

Mr. Hafeman stopped walking and signaled for me to wait for a moment, "Nichole. The most important advice I can give you in your time here, is to make lots of friends, while at the same time, being incredibly careful in who you trust. This world is filled with many evil people. Do not let them trick you."

I swallowed and nodded. I was perturbed by his words and his demeanor, but somehow, I felt like I could trust him. I then followed him into the large building. It was old, but well kept and very grand looking. Several students were chatting with each other and exchanged glances as they walked past me. I definitely stood out considering that I wasn't wearing a uniform like they were. I wondered if they knew Mel.

"Nichole." Mr. Hafeman addressed me as we stood in front of a large door to the main office, "Sit here. I have to go to talk to the principal about your admittance to the school as it is a _special_ case."

I nodded and took a seat on a bench along the wall just outside of the office. There were a lot of trophy cases filled with various awards and plaques and ribbons. Some time had passed and a few more students had walked by, each giving me a different look of discontent; like I wasn't supposed to be there. It made me a little angry. Were these the people that Mel had to put up with? They all felt so.. rude.

But then I wondered how they all got here.. Did they lose their families too? Did they choose or want to come here? Or were they forced to either because of people hunting them like they did me.. or something else? Maybe they weren't always rude or stuck up.. or maybe they really weren't stuck up at all.. maybe they were just cold towards strangers they don't know. I let out a sigh as I hunched myself over my knees.. ' _How am I going to pull this off?'_

I was startled out of my thoughts as—who I assume was one of the professors—came down the hall wrestling with a student. The teacher didn't look like he was very strong, yet the student was quite the opposite. Clearly that student could have broken away from the grip the professor had on his arm with ease if he had wanted to. I wonder what he did to get in to trouble. He was tall with dark brown hair and brown eyes, but they were harsh and angry... they were.. sharp. I don't know what it was, but something just seemed to fill him with rage. You could see it in him from head to toe. He didn't look like someone I wanted to get involved with.

The professor walked him over to the bench I was sitting at and set him down in a rage, "Wait here until I get Principal Adkins out here; you are really in for it this time!" he didn't even bother to acknowledge my presence and stormed into the principal's office without even knocking.

I glanced over at the boy. Immediately he shot a fiery yet ice cold glare at me. I looked back down at the ground. My arms were covered in goosebumps.

"You're new here?" I was startled that he had said anything to me.

"Yeah." I choked out. I wasn't expecting him to say anything, "I came here to look.."

He cut me off, "Idiot. You shouldn't have come here." I couldn't see his face.. "You're going to regret it."

'Idiot?!' I thought to myself. The nerve of this guy! "Excuse me," I stood up in front of him, "where do you get off calling me an idiot?! You don't know why I came here. I'll decide for myself whether it was the right choice or not!"

He stood up grabbed my braid in his one hand and tugged on it. His eyes could have been on fire they were so full of anger and they were icy cold. "Anyone that comes to this place of their own free will is an idiot. And you are an idiot." he looked down at his hand almost confused, then tugged on my hair again. I felt hot with anger, but then I also felt a wave of ice come over my body and felt almost cold. He looked unsatisfied. He let my braid unravel from his hand and leaned over me staring directly at my eyes, "Idiot."

It was at that very moment that I knew I had met the most infuriating and difficult person I had ever known or ever would.

"Christopher!" a man who I presumed to be Principal Adkins towered above the two of us with his hands crossed over his chest, "In my office.. _now._ " he briefly glanced at me, taking note of my presence, then turned and stood in the doorway of his office.

Christopher stormed into the office, leaving Principal Adkins, Mr. Hafeman, and the other professor standing in the hall.

"Thank you sir," the scrawny professor spoke as he adjusted his glasses, "I'll be taking my leave now." and then he walked off.

"That was Professor Stigman. You'll be seeing him around, I'm sure." he then held out a hand to me, "And I am Principal Adkins. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

I shook his hand, "Nichole Lucent."

"Lucent? What an interesting name.." he paused, "Mr. Hafeman told me a bit about your predicament. I understand that this is all very complicated and I am sure confusing. But I assure you, you're in good hands with Mr. Hafeman and I will be around if you ever need me."

"Thank you." Principal Adkins seemed very kind. Maybe I would be okay here after all.

But then, a large crash came from inside the office; something like shattering glass. The three of us exchanged glances before Principal Adkins and Mr. Hafeman rushed into to the office. Glass was everywhere as the window behind Principal Adkin's desk had been blown out. Christopher stood with a foot on the window sill and an arm stretched out to a rope outside.

"Christopher!" Principal Adkins called out, then turned to Mr. Hafeman, "Hafeman control your student NOW!" he yelled.

Mr. Hafeman pulled out his vine whip and was just about to lash it at Christopher as he looked right at me, stuck out his tongue, and then turned away and jumped out the window. I glared after him. _He meant that for me, didn't he?!_

A slight breeze moved through the room. Principal Adkins and Mr. Hafeman ran to the window and looked down after Christopher. "He's gone." Principal Adkins said curtly. Nobody said anything for a moment. Suddenly Principal Adkins face went from kind and gentle to stern and harsh. He walked over to the phone on the desk and picked it up. After dialing a three digit number he held it to his ear, "Charles. Call rehabilitation... Yes for Christopher... Well he just jumped out of my third floor office that's what!" his voice was much harsher than it was just moments ago.

 _'Rehabilitation.. Just what did he mean by that?'_

He must have noticed my uneasiness because in less than a second his face was back to kind and gentle; except that made me even more uneasy, "My apologies, Nichole. That certainly was not the impression I wanted to give to our new student." he continued as he adjusted his tie back into place, "Christopher is a _special_ case within this school. He is very powerful and therefore feels as though he can do as he pleases without any repercussions. Unfortunately, I have to be the one to show him that there are consequences to his actions and he cannot be allowed to just do as he pleases."

He took a seat at his desk and folded his arms on top of it with a smile, "Now, back to your matters. Mr. Hafeman here tells me you don't actually know what your talent is?" I nodded, "But that you were being chased by a hunter to here and you were saved by Mr. Hafeman?" I nodded again, "Well Mr. Hafeman believes that for that reason you must be on the brink of holding an amazing talent. Under normal conditions with such a case, we would not be welcoming you into this school Miss.. Lucent." he leaned forward, "But I trust Mr. Hafeman here and I am giving you a chance to prove yourself.." he leaned back into his seat and waved a hand to me, "Have a seat Nichole."

I moved away from the door to one of the chairs in front of Principal Adkin's desk and sat down. Mr. Hafeman sat in the chair next to me. I had practically forgotten he was still in the room.

"So here are the terms of your enrollment.." Principal Adkins spoke, "You have twenty-four hours to figure out what your talent is. If you do indeed have a talent, you are welcome to stay as a student. However, if that time passes and you have yet to discover a talent, I will have no choice, but to assume that you are working with some dangerous people that are trying to harm our students and you will immediately be turned over to the federal government. While you are on school grounds you are to be accompanied by another student or teacher at all times. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir." I stammered.

"Very good." he replied, "Mr. Hafeman, I will leave it to you to then to make sure she gets settled in."

"Of course." Mr. Hafeman responded.

"Good." Principal Adkins nodded, "Now please, make yourself at home, I am expecting great things from you Miss Lucent."

'Miss Lucent' I didn't like how he said my name; it was almost condescending, like my name meant something more than what it was.

A few minutes later, Mr. Hafeman and I were in another room filled with different uniform pieces. "Here, try this on, I'll be right outside." he handed me a pile of clothes and a pair of shoes then left the room, shutting the door behind him. He was different since the meeting in Principal Adkin's office. Nervous.

The uniform was cute enough. It was a white button-up blouse with a solid purple skirt and a thin purple neck-tie around the collar and then a pair of knee high black socks and a black pair of shoes. At least it all fit, so that was good.

I came out from the room once I was finished getting dressed. "Very good." Mr. Hafeman said. There was a student standing next to him, "This is Sutton. I have to go back to work, so he will be your guide while I'm not around."

"O-okay.." now _I_ felt nervous. Why was he leaving me all of the sudden?

The boy nodded at me with a sheepish smile, "Nice to meet you."

"One more thing," he added, "I need your cell phone. From here on forth you will not be able to have any contact with people outside of the school."

"Yes sir." I opened up my purse and dug around for my phone. When I found I noticed that I had received another text from Mel!

My heart skipped a beat, " _Trust no one._ "

I quickly shut the phone off and handed gave it to Mr. Hafeman. Hopefully my face didn't show how suddenly scared I was on the inside. Fortunately for me, he seemed to be preoccupied from the incident in Principal Adkin's office to notice. Unfortunately though.. by handing my phone over, I no longer had contact with Mel or whoever was using Mel's number. It felt a little lonely.

"Thank you." he replied, "Take care of her Sutton." and he walked away.

The boy nodded as he adjusted his glasses, "Yes sir." and then turned to me. He wasn't very impressive to look at. He was just slightly bigger than me, brown eyes, dirty blonde hair, a splash of freckles on his face that you almost didn't notice in comparison to his wide-rimmed glasses. "My name is Sutton; nice to meet you." and he held out a hand to me.

"You too. I'm Nichole.. My friends call me Nikki." I hesitantly shook his hand.

Sutton looked at me, "Are you hungry? It's about lunch time."

Actually, I was just realizing that I was very hungry. I hadn't really eaten much in past couple of days. I had momentarily lost my appetite after what had just happened, but the hunger was catching up with me. I let out a small sigh, he seemed nice, "I'm starving." I replied.

Sutton smiled sheepishly, "I know." he said.

"I'm sorry?" I asked, what did he mean?

"I knew you were hungry. That's my talent." he looked kind of proud of himself.

"Your talent is that you can tell when people are hungry?" _you can get into this school with a talent like that?_ ' I thought.

"No," he chuckled, "my talent is intuition."

"Intuition?" I questioned.

We began walking towards the cafeteria as he explained it to me, "I get these gut feelings about things: Character traits, emotions, thoughts, election outcomes, sports outcomes. I'm almost always right."

"Wow.. I didn't know such a talent existed." I wondered what other kinds of 'talents' were around here.

"Oh well, my talent isn't anything compared to other people's.. What's your talent?" he asked.

I paused for a second.. Is it okay to tell him?.. At that moment we were standing just outside the cafeteria doors, "I actually, don't know what my talent is.. or if I even have one.." I looked down shamefully at the ground.

When I looked up Sutton was smiling, "I wouldn't worry about it, I have a feeling that you have an amazing talent."

Somehow, that made me feel better.. but I didn't really believe him. How could I have a talent and not even know what it is?

Sutton opened the doors to the cafeteria. It was large and overwhelming. Everyone we passed stared at me, "Don't worry." Sutton spoke softly as we waited in line for our food, "Everyone gets a little apprehensive whenever there's a new student. You'll be welcomed in soon enough."

"Thanks." I said, although I wasn't so reassured.

"You don't have any money yet, right? I'll take care of your lunch for you."

"Thanks again." I smiled, "I owe you one."

Sutton gave a light shrug, "Don't worry about it. I'm actually the student council president; helping out new students is pretty much my job anyways." he stammered, "No-not that it's like it's just work or that it's bothersome!"

I chuckled, "I understand what you mean! You guys have a student council here?"

"We do! Most students just refer to it as student government. With the kind of school that we are, it helps to have students take some of the work load off of the professors." we slowly inched through the line grabbing an assortment of food, "We have our own version of 'hall monitors' and people in charge of student activities. Personally, I oversee the welcoming committee."

We reached the end of the line where a sweet looking elderly woman took an ID badge from Sutton and scanned it twice. Once for Sutton's meal and once for mine. She then looked up at me, "Welcome to the Academy sweetheart."

I nodded, "Thank you."

Sutton and I walked over to an empty table and sat down with our lunches. I took a bite out of a shiny red apple I had picked up in line. It was crisp and sweet and juicy. I had never tasted an apple so good.

I glanced up at Sutton. He looked very pleased, "All of our produce is grown right here on campus in our agriculture fields. All of it is extremely high quality a sells for high prices outside of the school."

"Why would you have farming at a school?" I questioned.

"Because we have students with those talents." he replied as a matter of fact.

"I thought this was a school for talents in the arts, or math and science.. not farming." I said a bit put off. What kind of a school did Mel go to? It didn't seem all that special aside from how fancy it was.

Just then an outside voice that was so high pitched I expected a glass to break chirped up behind me, "Oh, so you think you're above the rest of us?" I turned around in my seat to see a petite girl with long straight black hair and dark brown eyes looking down at me with her arms crossed. She was little, but made herself look very big with her strong personality. Her nose was so stuck up I could see straight up it.

She had a point though.. Who am I to judge the talents people in this school possessed when I had none? But farming? Still. Mel went here and Mel was a genius, "I'm sorry," I started, "I was just asking."

"It's okay, Lydia," Sutton chimed in, "she's new here, she doesn't understand everything yet."

I looked back and forth from Sutton and this Lydia girl, then looked down at my food. I felt foolish.

"Well she better learn." Lydia glared harshly at me, "This isn't a place for ignorant dim-wits." she leaned in at me, "What is your talent, anyway?"

'Ugh.' I was really beginning to hate that question.. I stood up and looked over the girl, "Why does it matter what my talent it? I'm here, aren't I?" my voice became defensive, "You make it sound like the world revolves around your tal-"

"It does." she replied sharply.

" _Excuse me_?" I raised an eyebrow. I've never met someone so arrogant.

"It does." she repeated, "Politicians, military officials, top chefs, artists and inventors.. They all come from here. We are the people that have influence over the rest of the country." she had her hands on her hips now, "Everyone else is just feeding off of us, because they can't even come close measuring up to us. So yes, the world does revolve around our talents—at least those of us with _useful_ talents."

"Lydia!" Sutton scolded, "That's too much!"

She scoffed at him, "Well it's true. Better she get that through her brain now, rather than later." she then turned and walked away, her hair whipping around with her sharp turn. I realized at that point that everybody in the cafeteria was staring at our table. _Were we that loud?_

I sunk down in my seat, suddenly feeling very small, "I'm sorry." Sutton said finally, "She's not normally that bad."

I looked up at Sutton with concern, "Do you all really feel that way? That if you don't have a talent you're just a low-life bottom feeder riding the coattails of the successful?" _Mel would never think that way.._

He looked pained, "Of course not." then he sighed, "But some people do.. And most of them mean well, really. Just.. everyone here has their own story. I mean some of us have been here since we were kids. All that time spent away from our homes and families.. Everybody handles it differently."

We spent what little time there was left of lunch poking around at our food. Every time I looked up from my plate there was a new face looking at me. Sometimes it was a face of concern; other times it was a face of distrust. It didn't matter.. I only came here to find out about Mel and then leave. What they think of me.. it doesn't matter. As long as I can get the information from one person..

"Sutton." I spoke up.

"Yeah?"

I spoke quietly, looking down at my half-eaten plate, "Do you know about a student that used to go here?" I looked up at him pleadingly, "A girl named, Mallory Stevens?"

His face was that of shock. My heart jumped, _he knows,_ "Sut-"

"Not here." he quickly cut me off with cuffed hand to my mouth. His face was serious now. He quickly glanced around, like he was making sure no one else had heard what I had said. He stood up from the table and calmly gathered his tray, he smiled softly, "Come with me, the next class will be starting soon. You'll follow my class schedule until you're officially enrolled here."

I nodded and did as he said.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey guys! For everyone that's been reading, I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Please let me know what you think, this is my first story on here so I would love the input! I also hope you like the picture for the story, I made it myself with a scratch board :)**

Sutton and I stepped out from the cafeteria and stood outside the building. He walked briskly down the end of the building and then around the corner. I quickened my pace to keep up with him. Suddenly he grabbed my shoulders and pinned me against the brick wall looking at me with great concern.

"You knew her didn't you?" he asked in a hushed voice, "You knew her before you came here?" I nodded without a word, "And then she disappeared and you found out? And you came here to try and find her? That's right, isn't it?"

"Yes." I said, "How do you know all that?"

He let go of my shoulders and moved a hand up to his face to adjust his glasses, "Intuition."

He looked upset.

"You knew her too.. while she was here, didn't you?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I knew her." he looked up at me, "We were friends."

Tears began to brim at the corners of my eyes, "What happened?"

Sutton looked each direction—like he was making sure no one else was listening, "Mallory was extremely talented; a genius. She was constantly getting offers from investors for her inventions and people wanting her to come work for them." he went on, "Well, there's people outside of the school. Some of these people don't like the idea of people having talents like we do, so they try to hurt us whenever they can. Other people just want to use people with talents so they can steal or become more influential in the government. And then there are some people who have talents and were kept here at the school—some from very young ages—that felt like they were wronged by the school or don't like the way things are run here.. so they try to attack the school itself or the students. There has been times where they get the current students to go against the school."

I listened quietly, hanging onto every word that he said. I never knew such things existed right here in our own country.

"I think Mallory was taken by one of these outside groups so they can use her talent to their own advantage, but I can't figure out which group or for what purpose exactly. But, I do think that she's alive. She wouldn't be worth taking if they just killed her."

 _Kill._ It was such a strong word. It didn't sound right in this day and age.. But then again, my own mother was killed. And I'm pretty certain that if I hadn't come here, I would have been killed as well.

"You must have been very close friends." Sutton's words pulled me out from my thoughts.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"For you to come all this way for her, you must have been really close."

 _'We were'_ I thought to myself, "Did she ever mention me?" I asked Sutton.

He shook his head, "She refused to tell anybody about her life outside of this school. She was quiet, kept to herself. She was in line to win the best student of the year award."

I looked down at my feet. Mel was so amazing.. I should have been there for her. I should have known something was wrong. She was alone and I was a world away, powerless to help her. I looked back to Sutton, "So now what?" I asked.

"Stay here." he replied.

"But I can't just stay here! Mel's out there somewhere." I was almost shouting.

Sutton put a finger to his lips as a sign to stay quiet, "Someone bad is after you, right? I could sense it."

"But that's probably because I know Mel."

"No. I think it's because of your talent. I wasn't kidding before when I said I thought you have a great talent. They must have known somehow. I think they were truly after _you_." he was serious, he really thought they might have been after me.. "You should stay here. You'll be safe."

I snapped at him, "Mel wasn't."

I could tell that hurt his feelings, "You'll be safer here than out there!" now he was almost shouting. For a quiet, nerdy kid he sure stood up for what he believed in.. I appreciated that about him.

"Mallory would have wanted you to be safe. Your best bet for safety is to stay here. And if down the road you really want to help her.. then you should figure out what your talent is and grow it. You can't do that anywhere the way you can do that here."

He had a point. Still, it didn't feel right to just stay here.. but, where else would I go?

I let out a long sigh, "Okay," I said, "I'll stay.. for now."

Just then, who I presumed to be a teacher interrupted us, "Excuse me, Sutton?"

"Yes sir?"

"Is this a new student?" the teacher asked.

"Yes sir."

"Well then it is best that the two of you be on time for class so as to not set a bad example, don't you think?" the man was middle-aged with brown slicked back hair. He looked strict.

"Yes sir." Sutton replied again. He looked back at me with a nod to follow him, then nodded to the teacher. I nodded at him as well as we walked past him. I wondered if he heard anything that we talked about just then..

"Who was that?" I asked Sutton.

"He's one of the science teachers. Try to stay on good terms with him. He has the talent of electricity and he harnessed his talent to use it as a disciplinary tool if you misbehave." I looked at him in alarm, "It doesn't hurt too bad, it's just a little shock to get your attention."

"You can use electricity as a talent?"

Sutton looked at me a slightly confused, "You really don't understand what all kinds of talents there are, do you?"

"No." I frowned, "I thought it all had to do with being smart... What else is there?"

Sutton explained as we walked across several buildings on campus, "Well there are different types of talents. Some do have to do with being smart," he whispered, "like Mallory," and continued, "others have to do with physical attributes or mental abilities, "like speed or my intuition. And then there are some that have to do with controlling the things around them—like electricity—for example." I listened in disbelief, "There really isn't any limit on what a talent could be."

I couldn't believe it. It was too fantastic, "You're messing with me, right?"

He crossed his arms and spoke matter of factly, "After everything you've seen in the short amount of time since you've been here, you honestly don't believe it? Why would a hunter target a musician or artist to such a degree? What about that thing in the principal's office with Christopher jumping out the window?"

I looked down at my feet. He had a point. He had several points.. It was just too much to take in.

"I'm sorry." Sutton said after a few moments of awkward silence had passed, "It's not fair for me to just expect you to comprehend everything all at once like this." I looked up and gave him a nod, "You'll understand better once you see the classes."

The next thing I knew, Sutton and I had walked into another large building with the same purple and silver coloring. It must be the school's colors. We climbed several flights of stairs and found ourselves on the fourth floor of the building.

"Wait here for a minute." Sutton said to me as we stood outside of the classroom. He stepped inside the noisy room and returned a few moments later with a teacher. It was the same scrawny teacher that had brought Christopher to the principal's office earlier. Thinking back to Christopher left a bad taste in my mouth and I frowned inside.

"Nichole Lucent, is it?" the teacher questioned me.

"Yes, sir." I replied.

"Pleasure to meet you." you stuck out his hand and I shook it, "I recognize you from the hallway earlier today, I apologize for not making your acquaintance before. You can call me Mr. Stigman. I'm the homeroom teacher."

"Nice to meet you too."

"I was briefed by Principal Adkins about your terms of enrollment. Later on today we will be having an assembly to welcome a graduated student. Afterward there will be a talent workshop. Many students are able to learn a large deal about themselves and their talents during these workshops. I hope you will be present at that time. It may be very beneficial to you in figuring out just what your talent is." I listened curiously, "In the meantime, why don't we introduce you to the class?" Mr. Stigman said as he gestured towards the opened door for me to step inside.

I moved cautiously through, taking deep breaths with each step. As soon as I walked through the threshold of that door, the class was silent and everyone's eyes were on me. Mr. Stigman walked past me and stood in front of the white board. I followed his steps and stood next to him.

The classroom was laid out with many rows of desks. I saw several faces that I had walked by in the cafeteria. Sitting in about the center of the class was Lydia.. _'That's fitting'_ I thought. She seemed like someone who liked to be the center of attention. And to the back and to the right of Lydia was another unpleasant face... Christopher.

His feet were resting up on his desk, with his arms crossed and his head tilted down. _'Was he sleeping?'_ His hair fell over his eyes so I couldn't tell. To his right was another boy that I hadn't seen yet.

His hair was blonde and shaggy. He looked similar to Christopher in harshness, but he was holding a small fluffy black cat. He looked up at me with blue eyes. His skin was pale, soft. Everything about him looked as though he should be a sweet, pleasant person.. But he wasn't. It was like he had a wall up around him.

To either side of them, they had empty seats. _'Not surprising'_ I thought. They probably don't like to socialize much.

Up front there were a couple of girls that were whispering to each other. They looked excited and nice. Maybe Sutton was right. Maybe there were nice people here.

"Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself, Nichole?"

I glanced at Mr. Stigman then to Sutton for some reassurance. I then looked at the crowd of faces and managed up as much confidence as I could, "My name is Nichole. I'm from Ohio. I—uh.." I wasn't sure what else I was supposed to say.

"What's your talent?" someone called, I wasn't sure who it was.

Fear flashed across my face. I looked at Sutton for guidance, "She's here on a special grant." Sutton stepped forward, a bit nervous himself, "She has a talent. We're just not sure what it is exactly."

There was an uproar among the students.

"How can she not know what her talent is?" one voice said.

"What if she's a spy?!" another one called out.

"I bet she doesn't even have a talent!" Lydia stood up form her seat, hands on her hips.

I stared down at my feet. ' _Now what?'_

"Now now everybody," a familiar voice came from the door. It was Mr. Hafeman, "Nichole here was brought into the school by yours truly." I let out a sigh of relief, "She came here to figure out the exact nature of her talent and how to use it. Just because she doesn't have a name for it yet, doesn't just make it not exist." he tossed a smile in my direction, "Go easy on her."

He walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. He spoke softly, "I heard you made a bit of a scene in the cafeteria today?"

I gave a slight shrug and a nod, "Yeah.. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he replied, "we could use that spunk here... Nichole Lucent, I think you're here for a reason.. Stick to your guns, okay?"

I nodded.

Mr. Hafeman stood back up and looked around the class, "Okay, Nichole is going to need a partner to show her the ropes. Just like what all of you had when you first came here. Any volunteers?" a few hands actually went up in the air; I was surprised. Both the girls that were talking up front rose their hands as well. A small smile went across my face, only to be replaced by confusion.

"What? No volunteers?" Mr. Hafeman continued, "Welp, okay. I'll choose for you." he put his hand on my back and pointed towards the back of the room, "Nichole, your partner will be Christopher."


	6. Chapter 6

An echo of gasps came from all around the room, followed by a roar of chatter. Lydia was up from her seat again making a fuss, "Why does _she_ get to be Christopher's partner?" she held an arm towards me, "I mean what's so special about _her?"_

Other voices piped up their own opinions, "Poor girl, Christopher's tough to get along with.." "She really must be powerful to have Christopher as a partner." "What is Mr. Hafeman thinking?" The two girls up front looked at me with sorry faces. I looked over at Sutton and he looked sorry as well. Then I looked at Mr. Stigman and even he looked sorry for me.

In the back I could see Christopher's face. If he was sleeping before, he certainly wasn't now. But the way that he was glaring at me made me wish he was. I assumed the boy next to him must be a friend of his because he was glaring pretty harshly at me too. Even the kitten in his arms looked as though it was staring at me..

"Um, Mr. Hafeman.." I began to say, but he cut me off.

"Okay Nichole, Christopher will be your partner from here on out. Look out for each other, okay? That's your job too."

"But Mr. Hafeman, I don't understand.." I said in a hushed voice.

"Just trust me." he replied, "Go ahead and take a seat back there—next to your partner. We can talk more about this later if you want." he turned to the rest of the class before gleefully saying, "Alright guys! I'll see you at the assembly later on today!" and then he left the room.

Mr. Stigman adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat, "Okay class let's get down to business."

I cautiously took a seat next to Christopher. He turned his face away from me before mumbling under his breath, "Regret it yet?"

I stood up from my seat angry and hands on my hips, "Yeah right! I don't regret anything!" I was practically shouting, "Just you wait, I'll show you how much I don't regret coming here, you'll see!" I was then suddenly aware of just how loud and obnoxious I was being and if I ever regretted anything, I regretted how loud I was just then.

I looked around the classroom and sure enough everybody was looking at me. I looked back at Christopher, I couldn't see his eyes, but I could have sworn I saw a smirk on that irritatingly confident face of his.

"Do you mind, Miss Lucent?" Mr. Stigman questioned me.

Christopher shot me a glare, "Yes sir, sorry sir." and I sat back down.

"Lucent, huh?" Christopher mumbled, "You're going to regret this more than you could ever imagine."

"Hmph." I ignored him. Man he made me angry, how was I supposed to work with someone like him?

Mr. Stigman continued with his speech, "In case you didn't know, Nichole, this is our homeroom class. This class is only on Mondays and Wednesdays to discuss events that are happening throughout the week. Like today.." he was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Suddenly Mr. Stigman's face was drained of all its color. In the doorway stood a tall dark man. Everything about him looked sinister. He wore an all black suit and had stringy black hair that fell in his face. His skin was as white a porcelain, which contrasted against his very dark eyes. That man scared me.

"Mamoru.." Mr. Stigman uttered, "What can I do for you?"

He lingered into the room, it was almost like a cloud of blackness surrounded him, "I'm here for my dear Christopher." he smiled. His one eye was covered with a black eye patch. He turned to face towards Christopher, "Come along Chrissy boy."

I heard a low growl from Christopher. Mamoru pushed his hair out of his face. His hands were covered with multiple rings.. his ears too, "Now _Black Cat._ "

Christopher stood abruptly from his seat, knocking his chair to the ground, "That's my boy" Mamoru sneered and put a hand on Christopher's shoulder as he stormed by. Christopher shrugged it off and walked right out the door. Mamoru turned to Mr. Stigman, "I'll return the boy soon." and with that he followed Christopher out.

The entire class was silent. I glanced over at the boy that was on the other side of Christopher. He looked concerned. He caught my gazed and adverted his eyes to the ground. For a second there.. I thought I saw something soften in him.. _I wonder what his ties with Christopher are.._

"Ahem." Mr. Stigman gathered the class' attention, "As I was saying before, you all remember Katsu, right?" the class seemed to perk up a little. I did too. Katsu was a famous musician. A singer. Everyone was a fan of his. I've never heard a single bad thing about his music, "Well as you should know, he was a student of Kingston Academy—graduated with honors! And today, he will be performing at our assembly!"

Mr. Stigman continued talking about the assembly and how we were all to behave and where to sit when the time came. I tried to pay attention, but I couldn't stop thinking about that Mamoru guy and Christopher. ' _Was he being punished?'_ I thought back to Principal Adkin's office.. he used the word _rehabilitation._ I kind of felt bad for Christopher.. No matter what I did, I don't think I could handle whatever kind of punishment he would offer...

He never returned to class..

"Hey Sutton," I walked over to Sutton's desk after class.

"Hey" he replied, "What did you think?"

"Who was that guy? Mamoru?"

Sutton frowned, "He's head of the punishment division and the dangerous class."

"Dangerous class?"

"It's a class for students that have talents that can be used for fighting. It's supposed to give them an outlet or something so they don't get violent toward other students or something. You don't really get to know a lot about it unless you're a part of it."

"What about Christopher? Will he be okay?" I asked, even though I didn't care for the guy, I still felt bad for him.

"He'll be okay.. this happens to him a lot actually." he gave me an exasperated look, "If he would just follow the rules and behave himself he wouldn't get into so much trouble all the time."

"So he brings it on himself?" I asked.

"Well, yeah."

"You guys don't know anything!" a voice from behind us came. Sutton and I both turned to see Christopher's friend. His cat was cradled in his arms, "You aren't Chris. You don't know what it's like, to have a talent you don't even want! To have people use you because of it! Don't talk crap about people when don't know all of the facts!" he then pushed by us.

I stood there frozen for a moment before turning to Sutton for clarification, "Who is he?"

Sutton replied, "That's James.. He knew Christopher before they came to the Academy. And practically the only person Christopher lets to get close to him.."

"What did he mean by, 'a talent you don't even want'?"

Sutton sighed, "Christopher's talent is to create and control fire. It's a very powerful and dangerous talent. There have been rumors saying that he's set buildings and towns on fire.. some even say that he's even killed somebody... But it's all baseless rumors.."

"Excuse us," the two friendly looking girls that sat in the front of the class walked over to Sutton and I, "We wanted to introduce ourselves and welcome you to Kingston Academy!"

The two girls were very pretty with long hair. The one girl—who said her name was Clara—had red curly hair and the other—who said her name was Jasmine—had brown curly hair. Other than their coloring they both had a very similar look to each other.

"We both think it's really amazing that you're able to go to school here without knowing what your talent is!" Clara began.

"Yeah! And we both hope you're able to figure out what it is soon!" Jasmine chimed in, "It must be something really wonderful to be partnered up with Christopher."

"I'm honestly a little jealous." Clara giggled, "He's scary, but there is something cute about him."

"Oh.. really?" this conversation was making me feel very awkward all of the sudden.

"Well we have to get going," Clara started.

"We want to get good spots at the assembly after all! Katsu is so amazing!" Jasmine finished.

And with that, we said our goodbyes and Clara and Jasmine were out the door.

Sutton and I began to walk out ourselves, "What are their talents?" I asked Sutton referring to Clara and Jasmine.

Sutton smiled, finally a light-hearted question, "Jasmine has a talent in cooking. More specifically, she can make desserts that will make you feel a certain emotion. She's hoping to open up her own restaurant someday, but she has a lot to learn still."

"And Clara?"

Sutton began to blush, "Clara's talent is an amazing one and very rare. She makes stuffed animals that come to life. Each one has its own personality! It's truly astonishing."

I smiled at Sutton, "You like Clara, don't you?"

That made Sutton's turn an even brighter red, "Well, goodness.. I mean she is very beautiful, but I wouldn't say that in particular, it's just that I appreciate-"

"Uh-huh" I cut him off, "It is a really cool talent though" we exited the student building to head over to the assembly field, "What about that James guy? What's his talent?"

"James has quite the talent himself, he can control animals around him and they all seem to be quite taken by him."

"Is that why he has that little kitten with him?" it didn't seem very manly or powerful to me.

"It is. But I don't know exactly how his talent works, he hasn't had the need or ability to use much around the other students since there aren't a lot of animals around this part of the school grounds."

"Are there animals not around this part of campus?" I questioned him.

"Yeah! A couple places actually. For one there's farm area by where we grow our produce and then there's the forests. And there's a horse riding range too." you could tell that Sutton really liked to talk about the school. I think he must be proud of it.

 _'I wonder what thinks about the school though where Mel is concerned..'_

"Hey Sutton.." we stopped walking, "About Mel,"

"No." he replied, his facial expression became more serious, "We can't talk about it in the open. It will have to wait until later." I nodded and stared down at my feet, "I'm sorry" Sutton added on.

"It's okay.. I'm just anxious about it."

"I promise I will help you figure something out." Sutton said. He sounded very genuine about it too.

"Okay." I gave him a small weak smile. And then I thought of another point, "Hey, why do you think Mr. Hafeman paired me with Christopher in the first place? There were other people that seemed like they were willing to work with me..."

"Oh that.." Sutton smiled sheepishly, "That was because of me actually."

"What?!" I gasped, "Why?"

"Intuition?" he shrugged.

"How?" my arms were crossed and my eyebrows raised.

"I just got this really strong feeling that you and Christopher were going to play really important roles in each other's lives. I told Mr. Hafeman and he just went with it." Sutton continued, "For now though," he gestured toward an area where a large crowd of people were gathered, "why don't we try and enjoy the assembly?"

"Okay.. But we're not done with this conversation."

 **AN: Hey guys! Thank you to everyone that's still reading the story at this point! I hope you guys are enjoying it :) There's going to be some more action** in **the next couple of chapters here and we should see what Nikki's talent is too! So please keep reading and please review! Thanks again!**


	7. Chapter 7

Sutton and I were now standing in front of a large outdoor auditorium. It was already filling up with students and teachers alike. You could really see the security detail in place now; especially up by the stage. Each one wearing neatly pressed black suits and ear pieces to keep in contact with each other.

"Darn," Sutton said, "All the seats up by the stage are taken already."

"That's okay, we can just sit wherever there's room." I reassured him. So much had happened in the past couple days, I really wasn't too concerned about being up close to the stage for a concert.

"Are you sure?" Sutton asked me.

"Yeah, I don't mind at all." I smiled.

Sutton and I met up with Jasmine and Cara and the four of us ended up sitting in the middle section of the left side of the stage. All the way to the right was a group of what must have been elementary students grouped with some teachers so they could see the show too. The rest of the crowd was a mixture between middle school and high school students and some teachers mixed about too. There were so many people here. _'How is it that this many people have these amazing talents and outside this school, nobody knows anything about them—especially children? You would think there would be an outrage on the news about people's children being taken away from them.'_

A roar of cheers and applause broke out in the crowd as Principal Adkins took center stage. He waved the crowd silent, "Alright, alright everybody, settle down!" he voice was filled with pride as he talked about 'Katsu, Kingston Academy's pride and joy'. And went on to talk about the school's history and everything it's overcome to get to this point.

After Principal Adkin's long drawn out speech, he finally introduced Katsu. I can honestly say, I don't think I have ever heard screams louder than what I heard that day in my entire life. Katsu then ran on stage and began his own speech about how excited he was to return to the Academy. He was tall—attractive. His hair was a dark brown and spiked up with gel. But as good looking as he may have been, he was cocky and that didn't sit well with me.. no matter how much I enjoyed his music.

"Hey Jasmine," I leaned over in my seat, "Where's the bathroom at?"

"Hey!" Sutton chimed in, "You could have asked me, I am basically your tour guide."

Cara chuckled which made Sutton blush, "Yeah, but you're a guy, I figured I should ask a girl." that and I've asked him pretty much every single question I've had all day.

"It's fine." Jasmine smiled, "I'll walk with you to the top of the seats and point you in the right direction from there." it also gave Sutton and Cara a second on their own.

"Thank you!" I hadn't gone to the bathroom all day. Jasmine and I walked up the steps of the auditorium and she pointed me towards a small building. I walked inside the girl's room and did my business and such. The big thing here was when I walked over to the sink to wash my hands.. I could hear voices on the other side of the wall. I thought it was just regular chit chat and I didn't think anything of it until I heard someone say ' _Black Cat'_ , but that was all I could really make out.

 _Black Cat._ That's what Mamoru called Christopher earlier today in the classroom.. Was it connected?

I opened the door to the girl's bathroom a crack and peered outside to see who came out of the guy's bathroom. Two adults emerged from the other side. I hadn't seen them yet today.. They were definitely adults, but they didn't look like teachers. Around their necks they had security passes on. ' _They must be part of Katsu's team.'_ I thought.. But what would they want to do with Christopher? Could they mean a different black cat? I wasn't sure, but I got a bad feeling in my stomach. I needed to find Sutton. If I had a bad feeling, I wonder if his intuition had any bad feelings.

"SUTTON!" I yelled and waved my arms. It was a miracle that he turned around and saw me. "SUTTON!" I called again.

He jumped up from his seat and ran towards me, "Nichole, what is it?"

"Okay, I don't mean to sound crazy, but is there anyway you can tell me if you're having any kind of gut feeling about Christopher right now?"

He looked confused, "Well, not particularly.." he began to scratch his head, "I mean I haven't learned to make it work on command like that yet. Usually my intuition is situational or just random. Like when you were calling me. I didn't actually hear you, I just felt like I needed to turn around. Why, is everything okay?"

"Oh. I see.. Yeah I guess so, I just had a gut feeling of my own I guess." Just then I could hear Katsu's band start playing the intro to their first song and everyone started cheering again. And right at that moment James ran past us, bumping my shoulder and sending me off my feet a few steps. He was running towards one of the school buildings,

"Woah!" I steadied myself and looked at Sutton, puzzled, "I wonder what that was about.."

"Nichole." Sutton started, "Follow him."

"What?" I was so confused.

"Follow him, Nichole!" there was a sense of urgency in his voice, "Follow him, NOW!"

I looked back at James, he had a good lead on me, but I felt like I could catch up, "Sutton, if I don't come back in ten minutes, come find me!"

And I took off after James. Sutton's intuition must have acted up. Which means maybe I was right about my own gut feeling. James and Christopher are friends after all and he seemed panicked. What else would cause James to panic? "James!" I yelled out, "James!" nothing. I was too far behind for him to hear me. I picked up my speed and chased him down a path of the school I hadn't been on yet.

It had trees on either side of it and at the end of the path was the biggest building I've seen on this campus thus far. It sat in a large clearing, but the rest of it was surrounded by the forest. A sign in front of it read, ' _Kingston Academy_ _Center for Health and Science'._ James was standing by the sign. He must have stopped to catch his breath.

"James!" I cried out once more. That time he heard me. I could tell by the look on his face that I was the _last_ person he expected to see at this very moment.

"What are _you_ doing here?!" James asked harshly.

I tried to search his eyes.. Something was definitely up. I looked back at the sign again.. It must be like a hospital.."What's wrong with Christopher? Is he hurt?"

At first James looked shocked at my question, then he looked down at the ground, "Mamoru hurt him worse than usual with his punishment this time.. It's not the first time this has happened. Every time Christopher does something that school doesn't like, they punish him... It's not fair."

"Oh my goodness.." I held a hand to my face.

"But there's something else.." He looked me straight in the eyes, "It's Katsu. My cat here," his cat was hanging onto his shoulder, "her name is Carissa.. she overheard someone on Katsu's team talking about taking Christopher... I have to stop them."

"Take him?" It was an instant flash back to Mel. "They can't.." I muttered under my breath. I looked up at James, my mind set, "Let me help."

"No." he replied immediately.

"Why not?"

"It's dangerous! You don't even know what your talent is!" he argued.

"I don't care!" I shouted, "I can't let this happen to anyone else!"

That took James back, he looked confused, "What?"

Shoot. I said too much.. "Nevermind." I said, "Christopher is my partner. It's my job to help him, just like he's supposed to help me. And while you're wasting time arguing with me about this, we could be up there helping him!"

"Fine!" he steamed, "Just don't get in my way. And if something happens to you, I'm _not_ going to help you. Christopher is all I care about right now."

James' face was harsh. It didn't fit his look. It fit Christopher, but not him.. But that didn't matter. Right now we had to help Christopher. That was our priority.


	8. Chapter 8

James and I walked around the back of the building, "Why can't we just go through the front doors again? Or get a teacher?" I questioned James who was seemingly taking the most difficult path into the building.

"Here's your first lesson Miss Know-it-All.." the sarcasm was just dripping from his mouth, "Don't trust the teachers here. They're all rotten liars; every single one of them."

He reminded me of the last message I got from Mel's phone, ' _Trust no one.'_ "Okay," I replied, "We'll do it your way.. I won't complain."

He look perturbed, "Okay.. Good." James then turned towards the brick wall and looked up it.

"So how do we get inside?" I asked cautiously.

"Leave that to me." James held to fingers to his mouth and let out a high-pitched whistle. A few moments later the leaves on the trees began to move, then the grass beneath our feet. Soon after a large shadow was cast over James and I. I looked up and for a split second, I feared for my life, for above my head was an absolutely giant hawk.

The hawk landed feet away from James and I. He stood up and walked over to its leg that was as tall as he was. "Shhhh. Good girl." he said as he stroked the leg. He then took a step onto one of her feet and turned to me with an outstretched hand, "Are you coming or not?"

I swallowed, ' _What did I get myself into?'_ I stepped towards James, "Okay Nikki, you can do this."

I heard a chuckle, "Nikki, huh?"

"What are you laughing at?" I demanded, "It's my nickname."

"Nothing, I'll take note of that," he held his hand out again, "Let's go."

I took one more deep breath and then grabbed his hand. He pulled me against the hawk's leg and wrapped an arm around my shoulder, "Hang on tight."

I nodded silently. James held his fingers to his mouth and let out another whistle. In an instant the bird had lept into the air and began to flap its wings lifting us farther and farther upward. My foot slipped and I thought I was going to fall. I let out a small yelp as James gripped tighter on my shoulder and brought me back up to the hawk's leg.

"Hold on." he said. I looked up at James' face and our eyes met. His face was different from before. His eyes were softer.. He let his guard down. He blushed ever so slightly and looked up at the roof of the building.

 _'I wonder if this is what he's really like when he's not around Christopher..'_

Seconds later the hawk had reached the top of the building and hovered a few feet above it. James hopped down and held his hand out for me to do the same. I did and the hawk flew off into the sky.

"Alright," I said, "What's next?"

"Christopher's room is on the seventh floor. That's three floors down form the top floor and we're currently on the roof. Carissa said that the goons from Katsu's team were going to come in the middle of his performance.. Considering that the performance began while we were still running here, I think we're probably going to end up running into them. But we have to be careful about it.."

"So.. Are we going to fight them?" I inquired.

"I'm honestly not sure.." he thought for a moment, "For now, let's just get down there and play it by ear.. Just, don't do anything without my go ahead, okay?"

"Okay." I agreed and the two of us went over to the roof's door, thankfully it wasn't locked. The stairway was dimly lit though and very creepy. But we didn't have time to worry about creepy. Only time to worry about Christopher. James and I dashed down the stairwell step after step until we reached the seventh floor. James held a finger up to his lips as a signal to stay quiet. He then, while crouching down, slowly opened the door to the stairwell and peeked out.

He turned back and whispered to me, "It's clear.. for now.. Let's move."

I nodded and the two of us took off down the hallway. James had clearly been here to see Christopher before. I wondered if he always had to take this route just to see him.. It was strange. Given the meeting I had with Christopher this morning and then in the classroom, I never thought I would be going to such lengths to make sure we would be safe..

James and I continued running and pivoted around the corner at the end of the hallway. James led the way and I was just a foot or two behind him. He startled me when he put his arm out and nearly clothes-lined me.

"What is it?" I began to say, but was cut off by a harsh "shh" from James.

Silently he pointed down the hallway and the two of us crouched behind a nurse's cart. Several men were coming out of what must have been Christopher's room.

"Shoot." I heard James mumble, "We're too late." as he spoke another man came out from the room holding an unconscious Christopher.

"Oh my gosh." I whispered.

"Go back to the roof." he whispered back.

"What? Why?"

"We won't be able to stop them here.. But if we can get to the gate before them.. we can raise a commotion, bring it to the attention of the student body and they won't be able to escape unnoticed. But we have to hurry."

"Okay," I nodded. I took one last glance at Christopher's limp body and the two of us took off back down the hallway. Man, this was the most running I've done in all my sixteen years of living..

When we made it to the roof James whistled for his hawk.. but she didn't come. He tried again.. No luck. "What the heck?" he was sounded desperate. He looked over at Carissa on his shoulder.. "Carissa, down."

I stared at the pair intrigued.

The black kitten jumped down from James' shoulder and stretched its legs out in front of her, at that time a black cloud swirled around the kitten and the small cat became a rather large cat. With wide eyes I jumped back and forth from James to the cat and slowly raised a finger to point at the cat.

James jumped onto the cat's back, "Get on!"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Please, she's our only hope! We'll ride her through the hospital and down the steps. We'll try to catch up to those men!"

I hesitated for only a moment and then jumped on, wrapping my arms around James' waist, "Okay.. But we're not going through the hospital."

"What?" he questioned me.

"Do you trust your cat?"

He nodded, "Of course."

"Cats always land their feet.. Have her jump from the building. There's tons of trees that she can bounce off of.. it's the fastest way."

James considered it for a moment and then turned to his cat, "You got that Carissa?"

She seemed to almost nod and grin at his question and then without warning took off in a sprint to the ledge of the hospital's roof. Before I knew it we were in mid-air heading towards the closest tree branch. She landed hard on the first branch. You could hear the wood creek and crack as Carissa then jumped off of it and back towards the hospital building. She then pounced off the wall and then to the trunk of another tree before landing safely on the grass.

"Great job Carissa," James stroked her fur, "Now run!"

And with that she took off towards the main gate. I was impressed by James. He was really working hard to save his friend. No matter what happened to James to get him to this point, he still stood up for Christopher. He was cool. I decided at this point that I too would fight for Christopher, for James' sake.

We didn't take the path to the main entrance. Instead we just flew through the forest. I held on tighter as several branches swiped across my face and arms. I pressed my face against James' back. I was certain there would be several scratches on my arms and legs after that. But I just prayed that we would make it in time before Katsu and his team took off with Christopher.

We cleared the forest and were making our way to the main gates.. the opposite direction of the auditorium. The concert must have been over for at least a short while because a lot of students were heading the same direction as James and I..

"They must be heading to see Katsu off!" I shouted over the noise to James.

"We're close! We should get there soon!" He called back.

The closer we got, the louder it got. The road to the gate was crowded on either side of it cheering students. At the center of the road was an expensive looking black car. Katsu was standing just outside of it, waving to his _adoring_ fans. I felt sick. I felt angry. Was Mel taken by people like this?.. Probably not.. they wouldn't let the same person back into the school if that were the case.

James made a small chirp noise that brought a small humming bird by our side as we ran. After a few exchanged noises the bird flew ahead of us to the car and then back.

"Dang it."

"What?" I questioned, "He's already inside the car. They must have a talent that can teleport."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"Do you really think I would joke around about this?" he snapped.

At that time Katsu had finished his goodbye waves and sat down in the back of the car, "It's going to get away!" I yelled.

James growled, "Faster Carissa!" and she rand even faster than she did before. But the car began to move forward. We began to catch up to the car. Some teachers started to call out after us... Principal Adkins too.. I hoped we wouldn't be punished like Christopher for what we were about to do...

The gate at the entrance was opening and the car was gaining speed to get through the gates. I could hear Principal Adkins calling for the gates to be closed, but we couldn't stop now..

"James, we're not going to get to the car before it's outside the gates.. whatever you do, we have to make it outside the gates too!"

"What? Are you sure?"

"Positive! If we can keep up with them to their base, then they'll send people after us, right?"

"Well—yeah, but it's dangerous."

"Well yeah nothing. It's our only chance!"

"Okay!" he was determined.

The car was now through the gates and without a moment to spare and with every teacher and security detail officer chasing after us James and I followed right behind that car narrowly missing the iron rod gates that crashed shut behind us.


	9. Chapter 9

I held onto James tightly as we dashed around the city streets on James' enlarged black cat, Carissa, in the attempt to follow the black car that carried Katsu and the unconscious Christopher. Carissa was amazing. The way she weaved in and out of traffic. She jumped to the right and onto a fencepost that lined the road. The black car turned at a corner. Carissa lept from the fence post and on to a moving car then to another. It was almost like we were flying.

"How are you doing?" James called back to me.

"Good!" I called back.

"Alright," he said, "We've almost got em'!" he could hear the excitement in his voice. It was exciting too. The past few days I've felt so helpless with everything that's happened.. It finally felt like I was making progress, like I was doing something productive. Even if I wasn't going to find Mel, I was still helping someone; I was still doing something.

Katsu's team must have realized that we were chasing them because suddenly they gained speed and made another sharp turn—disregarding the red light above their heads. They nearly hit two other cars that were in the middle of the intersection. But it didn't phase Carissa or James. Carissa wall jumped off of a stopped car in the intersection and kept going. I tried to spot the car.. It had just turned down an alley. Carissa's claws scraped across the ground as she scraped her way into the alley and stopped.

"They're gone." I whispered.

"No." James stated bluntly, "They're hiding.. Carissa! Back out!" he commanded.

Carissa began to do as she was told and back out from the alley, but we weren't fast enough. Carissa turned to escape from the alley and crashed into this invisible wall.. A barrier. Electric lights shot out from the ground all around us, knocking James and I off of Carissa and she shrunk down into her kitten-self... It's an electric barrier..

Everything became fuzzy. I couldn't see clearly anymore. The barrier came down and I could make out a few adult figures standing around us as we laid on the ground. I looked over to James, he was trying to stand up, but one of the men punched him—knocked him out cold. It wasn't long before I followed him the same way. I get having a wave of electricity shoot through your body will do that to you though...

It was dark.. I couldn't breath. I tried to, but the air I inhaled turned rancid inside my lungs. It gripped my throat and strangled my neck. I gasped and clawed at my throat. I was suffocating. I tried opening my eyes. I was enveloped by a blanket of darkness.

' _Get up'_ a voice form inside me called, _'Get up.'_

So I did. But my body burned with every movement. Each and every step threatened to pull my body down to collapse in on itself.

' _Keep going._ '

So I did. I stretched my hands out in front of me and slowly moved forward until I reached a wall. I inched sideways along the wall; keeping one hand on the wall at all times. I continued to choke on the dirty air permeating my lungs. I brushed up against a door. I placed a hand against the paneling.. It was warm. I looked down at the floor to see a soft orange glow tearing into the darkness of the black room. I slid my hand down to the door handle. It was hot... I gripped tightly onto it.. I didnt care about the pain from the heat; it couldn't compare to the tightness in my chest and I knew I _had_ to go through this door.

I whipped the door open and flames exploded from the doorway. My body was engulfed in the flames. I tried to scream out of pain, out of terror, but I couldn't muster up the strength. I fell down to the ground. Tears stained my cheeks.

' _Don't stop.'_

 _"_ But I can't stand." I protested.

' _So crawl.'_ the voice pushed onward,

"But-"

 _'So crawl.'_

So I began to crawl on my arms, my legs practically dragging behind me. My throat burned. But I didn't stop. I kept moving. I kept pushing forward. The flames opened in a clearing as I entered the next room.

"Oh dear Lord." I cried out, "Mom." the tears now poured down my cheeks. The pain in my chest grew stronger. My mother laid motionless on the ground, just as she was the night she died. Blood stained her clothes. Her eyes stared straight ahead, empty of any soul.

I could feel another presence in the room. I forced my head to lift up higher and look up from my mother's dead body. Standing at her head were two legs. I looked up further to see Jasper standing there. Smiling. He held a knife in his hands dripping in the blood that pooled at his feet.

His eerie smile was forever etched into my brain.

I sprang up from my nightmare gasping for fresh clean air. Instead my lungs were filled with a damp musty air. ' _It was just a dream'_ I thought. … Just a dream.. Except, it wasn't. I was a nightmare. Not only that, but it was true. That man actually killed my mother. That man tried to kill me as well. I whimpered as more tears laid across the dried tears I had cried during my nightmare.

I went to wipe them off my face, but I couldn't. I came to realize that both my hands and feet were tied together and I was lying on a cement ground. I struggled in my bindings to try and break free, but it was no use. They were too tight. ' _What happened to me?'_

That's right.. James and I.. we must have been captured by Katsu. I blinked my eyes to try and clear away the darkness. I was laying on my side, my hands were tied behind me. In front of me I could make out a shadowy figure.. Was it James? No.. It was Christopher! But he was still unconscious. I couldn't see anyone on the other side of Christopher.. So was James on the other side of me?

I went to turn around to check, but I had to stop when I heard shuffling feet moving towards us. I closed my eyes and laid motionless in hopes that they would think I was still knocked-out.

"You put them back here?" I heard a voice say as it came closer. The feet came close and then stopped, "What a shame.. still asleep." the voice sounded familiar.. It gave me chills.

"Yes, sir." the second voice. A pause, the feet stepped around us, like they were circling us, "These kids sure did chase us a long way.."

"No matter," the creepy voice said, "we've got our _Black Cat_."

"What are we going to do with the other two?"

"Depends.. You grab their IDs?"

"We did for the boy, the girl didn't have one on her."

"Hmm, I guess I'll have to get that information from her myself.." the creepy voice guy continued, "What do we know about the boy?"

"He controls animals, but all of our reports have him listed as an average talent user."

"Okay, once we know about the girl, I'll call the Commander and figure out what we're going to do with them. Is the barrier in place?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. We wouldn't want our _Black Cat_ to try and pull anything."

The men turned and walked away. I waited until I couldn't hear their footsteps any longer before opening my eyes. I almost jumped when I did, because when I opened my eyes, Christopher's eyes were staring back at me.. Or glaring to be more precise.

"What are you doing here?" he whispered forcefully.

"James and I.. We came to rescue you."

"Idiot." he snapped, "How could you drag James into this?"

"I didn't _drag_ him into this! I'm the one who came with him. _He's_ the one who realized you were in danger and came after you!" I couldn't believe it, how could he treat me like this?

"You're putting both of your lives in danger. You shouldn't have come." his voice was sharp, but there was a hint of concern there. I guess that made sense if James was his best friend.

"Well it's too late," I argued, "we're here now and we're going to have to find a way to get out of here."

He sighed, "Hang on."

A moment later a small glow appeared behind Christopher's back. _Fire._ At first I began to panic.. but then I realized, that was Christopher using his own talent. He must be burning the ropes around his wrist. Something was wrong though.. He was sweating like crazy.. Was he still hurt from Mamoru.. or was it something else? Those guys from before said something about a barrier.. could that be making it difficult for him to use his talent?

"Hey, idiot." I was pulled back from my thoughts.

"What?" I asked offended.

"Roll over so I can get your wrists... hurry."

"Oh." I turned over like he asked.

"Now hold still." he told me.

I could feel the heat next to my skin as Christopher's small flame burned into the ropes of my wrists. I heard his breath right behind me.. It was heavy..

"Well well well, what do we have here?" it was that creepy voice again. Suddenly the flames at my wrists went cold and I heard shuffling behind me. I looked up and saw that it was Katsu. I sat up to see he had Christopher held up by his arm, "Trying to escape, are we?"

"Let him go." I demanded.

"Oh sweetheart. I love a hero as much as the next guy..." he sneered at me, "But I don't think you're in any position to be making demands." he turned his attention to Christopher and spoke much harsher to him, "And you." he spat, "You really thought you could use your fire inside the barrier and not have us notice?" he began to laugh, "I gotta say though, I'm impressed that you held a stable flame for so long." He threw Christopher down, who aside from a scary glare, couldn't retaliate.

"That's right," Katsu continued, "you just sit there like the scaredy cat you are." he turned to me, "And you.." he turned to me and kneeled down, "What's your talent?"

I spat at his feet, "Like I'd tell you."

Katsu's face grew red, "Why you!" he slapped me across the face slamming me down into the ground. Then he grabbed a fist full of my hair and I let our a yelp, but continued to glare at him, "You brat.. We can do this the hard way, or the easy way. The hard way is that I kill you right here and now, would you like that? Or we can do this the easy way and you can just tell me what your damned talent is!"

"I don't have one!" I screamed at him.

"Liar! You can't be a student at Kingston Academy without a talent!" he barked at me.

With the little strength I had, I ripped my hands free from the semi-burned ties around my wrists and swung at Katsu, "It's the truth!" I yelled back at him as I struck him across his own face.

"You!" he grabbed both my arms and shoved me to the ground on my back, "You want to know what my talent is? My talent is _control_. With my voice I can control whoever I want! You want to know what kind of things I can do with girls like you with a power like that?" He was scary. He was smiling. This creep was _smiling_ at me.

"I'm telling you the truth!" I cried out, "I was being chased by someone, so I ran to the Academy and they took me in! But I don't have a talent!" I struggled against his hands.

Katsu's face studied mine for a moment. A change in his demeanor told me that he believed me, "Your name.." he said a bit quieter, "What's your name?"

"Nichole." I replied.

"Your last name you brat!" he screamed back at me.

"Lucent!" I cried back, "My name is Nichole Lucent!"

Katsu climbed off of me, "Stay here!" he commanded and then left the room.


	10. Chapter 10

The room was still. Quiet. Tears continued to flow from my eyes as I whimpered, trying desperately to keep from sobbing after everything that had just happened. I jumped as I felt a hand on my shoulders, "Are you okay?" it was Christopher..

"I'm fine." I said a little harsher than necessary as I pushed his hand off. I instantly regretted it as he stumbled to the ground... He had put his hand there to support himself, not to comfort me..

He ignored my rudeness.. I wasn't sure if that made me feel better or worse.. I heard a slight cough from him.. he must still feel really sick, "We have to figure out what they're talking about." he stated.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Right now, they're out there, most likely looking up your name in the database. They're going to figure out who you are and then you'll be in danger." Christopher explained.

"Why would I be in danger? I don't even have a talent."

Christopher looked at me confused, "You don't know about your family's history, do you?"

' _My family's history?'_ "I don't know what you're talking about.." I stated.

"Nevermind that for now.. We need to get James up." Christopher moved over to James and lightly shook him, "James" he whispered, "James, get up." he looked up at me as James began to stir, "See if you can undo his restraints."

I did as he said and went to the other side of James and worked on the knots, "I got them." I said, finally feeling just a little bit useful.

Christopher glanced up at me, "Good, now get Carissa." Carissa was tied up too next James.. ' _Poor kitty'_ I thought to myself and went to work on her restraints.

"James." Christopher said as he sat him up, "What are you doing here?" his tone was much softer with James than it had ever been with me, it was concerned.

"I overheard that Katsu's team was going to try and kidnap you.. I couldn't just stand by and let it happen." James spoke as he rubbed his wrists where the rope was.

"You idiot." Christopher said, but it wasn't mean, "You shouldn't put yourself in danger like that." I handed Carissa to James. I had untied her rope, but she was still lethargic.

"Are you okay, Nichole?" James asked me as cradled Carissa in his arms.

I looked down at the ground, "Yeah.. I'm okay.." I really didn't want to think—let alone talk—about what had just happened during the time where James was still unconscious.

"James," Christopher started, "We need to know what Katsu's goons are saying about us out there."

"I got it." James replied. James then preceded to call a mouse out from a crack in the wall and it scurried up his arm. He then whispered something into the mouse's ear and it quickly took off out the door, "I used my talent to be able to hear what the mouse hears." he explained to Christopher and I.

I leaned into James and Christopher, "Wait, what about the barrier? Won't they know that you're using your talent?"

James looked pleased, "Nope. My talent doesn't require a lot of energy to be used. Unless I was doing something really big with it, they wouldn't notice the fact that I'm using it."

"Oh. Okay then." I replied.

I definitely had a lot to learn about these talents if I was going to stay at Kingston Academy.. But I only have whatever is left of today and tomorrow to miraculously come up with a talent and I don't know anything about Mel.. I tried to weigh my options. Maybe after this, I could escape instead of returning to the Academy. It would keep me out of jail.. but it wouldn't solve anything.. But if I go back to the Academy and I don't produce a talent then I will be thrown into jail.

"Hey" James said, "He's nearby Katsu's team. I'm going to repeat what they say, okay?"

Christopher and I nodded in response.

James:

 _"What have you found out from the database?" Katsu said._

 _"You said it was 'Nichole Lucent' right?" another voice began, "There's no record of a Nichole here. But if she's telling the truth about her name, then she must be a part of_ _ **the**_ _Lucent family. Except they've been off the grid for over a decade."_

 _"So she's lying then?"_

 _"No wait.. Central Command has a side note here that was just updated this week. It says that the mother has been located in Ohio and it appears that she has a daughter. They sent Jasper there to take care of them, but he never reported back." there was a pause, "Do you think that girl could be her daughter, Katsu?"_

 _Katsu was silent for a moment, "Damn, I don't know... She said she didn't have a talent.."_

 _"_ _But the Lucent family has the talent to_ _ **choose**_ _what there talent ends up being. Maybe she hasn't chosen yet."_

 _"I'm going to go call the Commander." Katsu said, "Keep looking to see what else you can find."_

 _"Yes, sir."_

Moments later the mouse scurried back into the room and onto James' hand. James and Christopher both looked up to me. For awhile nobody said anything. ' _It can't be true'_ I thought. Mom never said anything about talents or mentioned anything about the Academy..

"We have to get you out of here." Christopher spoke up, avoiding any talk about what we had just heard.

"What do you mean, me?" I questioned.

"If what they said is true, you're in terrible danger. You have to get out of here and back to the Academy. James too, you both have to get out of here."

"No." I stated firmly, "We all have to leave. We all have to make it back to the Academy. That's the whole reason we're here, is for you."

Christopher paused for a moment, "Fine. Here's what we're going to do.." he started to lay out a plan, "I'm pretty sure we're in some kind of warehouse. James, I need you to call as many animals in here as you can to create a distraction and I'll take down the barrier. Once it's down, you take Nichole and the both of you head back to the Academy on Carissa. I'm going to take care of things here and I'll follow right behind you."

"What are you talking about?" I questioned him, "You're super sick and injured, you can hardly stand! What do you mean, you're going to take care of things here?"

James and Christopher exchanged glances, "Nichole.." James put a hand on my shoulder, "We need to trust Chris. He knows what he's doing."

I looked back and forth between the two. I wasn't satisfied.. But I guess it was our only hope to get out of here, "Fine," I said reluctantly, "But if you're not right behind us, we're going to come back for you."

"No." Christopher said, "If I'm not right behind you, get inside the gates of the Academy, then get a teacher and tell them where this place is... James, don't let them catch you guys, okay?"

James nodded, "Okay."

James then sat on the ground and closed his eyes, he looked like he was deep in thought. It took a moment, but then hundreds of mice and rats and a few various other rodents came clawing into the building. You could tell by the screams from the men outside the door.

"Okay, move out!" Christopher called.

James and I ran out the door, followed by Christopher. The rodents were everywhere and any men that were around were being swarmed by them. Christopher ran ahead of James and I with fists full of fire. ' _He must be going after the barrier guy'_ I thought.

James and I ran down the hallway for the main entrance. Christopher was right, it was some sort of warehouse. It looked like they were storing weapons here. There were even crates labeled ' _gun powder'_ on them. We kept running. Katsu's men were everywhere, screaming and smacking rodents off of them. I even saw some birds flying in.

"We're almost there!" James called out to me.

And together we ran faster. I could see the main door.. we really were almost there! We ran harder, pushing through the small animals and Katsu's men. A couple of the men tried to grab us, but we easily dodged them. Just one last final stretch and we were out the door without any barrier to stop us.

"It worked!" I said gleefully as breathed in the night air. Carissa jumped down from James' arms and transformed into the larger version of herself.

James jumped on her and held a hand out to me, "Let's go." he said.

"Wait." I moved towards him, "Can't we wait for Christopher?" I pleaded with James. I could tell he wanted to wait. That he wanted to leave here with Christopher too. But he was waring with himself over what Christopher had said to him about getting back to the Academy, "Please?" I begged.

James looked around cautiously, "Okay," he finally said, "But not here. We need to move away from the main entrance. Let's try to find a place to hide out."

I smiled, "Okay."

James rode Carissa and I ran along side of them.. I didn't want to ride on Carissa out of fear that James may take off back to the Academy before I was ready to go with me on her. We ran to the end of the building where there were several metal barrels stacked up around the corner that we could duck behind. We crouched behind them and Carissa shrunk back down to a kitten.

 _"_ How long are we going to wait?" James questioned after a few minutes had passed. You could tell that he was getting anxious.

"I'm not sure.." I answered honestly, "It would be better if we knew what was going on inside the building.. If he's made it out yet.." I was worried. He did say that he would be right behind us, but we hadn't heard anything yet. I turned and looked at James, "What about the mouse?"

He hesitated for a moment.. "Okay.." he finally said. And just like he had done before, he called a mouse up to his hand and whispered into its ear and then it took off back towards the building, "I don't think listening will do us any good this time.. So this time I'm using its eyes." James explained to me, "I'll describe to you what I see, okay?"

"Sure." I replied. I was pretty amazed with James. His talent was way more expansive than just talking to animals.

A minute or two later the mouse reached the warehouse entrance and James began to explain what he saw, "I see Chris." he began, "He's standing just outside the entrance of the warehouse, but he's not moving, he's just standing there. I can see Katsu too.. It looks like they're arguing. I don't understand why he isn't running though.. the animals are still there, he should be able to escape.."

I didn't like that.. Why wasn't he following us like he said he would? Unless... "James, is there anything else you can see? What kind of stance is Christopher in.."

"Uh.. defensive, his hands are out.. like he's going to use his fire.. Is he going to fight Katsu?"

"I don't think so.." I replied. I jumped up from behind the metal barrels and took off running back to the main entrance of the warehouse.

"Nichole!" James shouted running after me, "What are you doing?!"

"Take Carissa! Go back to the school and get the teachers! I'm going after Christopher!"

"But-"

"Just do it!" I yelled back at him.

I knew what Christopher was doing, why he wasn't following us.. It's because he never planned on making it out alive. Those metal barrels with gun powder.. I bet my life he was planning on blowing them up. I ran faster. Clouds had begun to form and a light rain began to sprinkle over the ground.

I could see them in the distance. They were still arguing. I crouched down behind a wooden crate nearby to listen before doing anything else.

"Come on Christopher," Katsu was talking, "think about it. I know you hate that school... How they hurt you.. Use you for their petty missions, disregarding the strain it puts on your body. Join us.. Take charge of your own body, be your own boss!" I couldn't believe it. Katsu was trying to get Christopher to join their side.

"I would rather die, than join sides with scum like you." Christopher was flaming.. Quite literally.

"That, can be arranged. I mean it is a part your rules, isn't it? Get captured and can't escape? Then you kill yourself, right?" Katsu smiled. He reached a hand behind his back..

 _'_ _Oh dear Lord, h_ _e has a gun.'_

Christopher stood his ground, "If I die, you all are going down with me." he lit flames in his hands.

Katsu pulled out his gun and pointed it towards Christopher. My heart rate jumped. I have to stop them, but how.. If Christopher doesn't blow up the warehouse, he'll be shot.. But if he does blow up the warehouse, he'll die in the explosion!

The flames in Christopher's hands grew taller.. he was about to make his move.. Which meant that I had to move now. It was my only chance! I jumped out from behind the crate and ran towards Christopher just as the flames began to spread out from his hands.

"Christopher you idiot!" I screamed, "Don't do it!" he began to turn towards my voice as I jumped on top of him, tackling him to the ground. A bright white light shot out from all around me followed by a cylinder of water that surrounded us. I heard a single gunshot that rang out into night, but it didn't hit anything.

I held myself up over Christopher, "You idiot!" I cried out, "What were you thinking! You could have gotten yourself killed!" he was panting and now drenched in sweat.. Just how much pain was he in? I began to cry, "You don't get to do that! James risked his life to chase after you! You can't just throw it away because of some stupid rule!" I wiped my arm across my face, "You have to come back to the Academy with us and continue to grow and stay with your friends." Christopher said nothing, but just stared at me in shock. The rain began to pick up and thunder could be heard in the distance.

"You bitch!" Katsu screamed. He picked me up by my wrist with one hand and then slapped me across the face with the other. I let out a yelp, "You want to die so badly, do you? Fine!" he pulled his gun back out, "You can die then."

"Keep your hands off of her!" He yelled. He was on his feet again and he ran towards Katsu and punched him in the face, releasing Katsu's grip and dropping me to the ground, landing in a puddle that began to form. He stumbled back a few feet and Christopher stood in front of me. The flames returned to Christopher's hands.

Katsu raised his gun, the look on his face terrifying, "I'll kill you both!" he screamed. The side of Katsu's face was burning where Christopher had hit him.

"Go ahead and try!" Christopher's eyes changed. They were sharper than before and I don't know if it was just the reflection of flames or what.. but they appeared to have turned red in color. Before Katsu could do anything else, Christopher shot his flames into the warehouse causing a chain reaction of explosions. Christopher turned around and scooped me up in his arms and began to run. We only made it a few feet though before we tripped and landed in another puddle. All I could think of was the need to protect Christopher from his own flames. If I could just do that everything else that's happened would be worth it. All the pain I've gone through, the journey I've been on thus far. If I could just help this one person in front of me, it would all be worth it!

I tried to focus on that.. "Lord, if I really do have a talent, let me use it now!"

And suddenly a wall of water shot up from the puddle we had landed in and created a dome around us. But the explosion still hit. It sent us flying across the ground. And I was again, unconscious.


End file.
